“You loved them a lot.”
“I did.” Nana dashed a tear away and took a shaky breath. “Come on, that picnic needs eating and this wine needs drinking.” She held up the wine and smiled up at him. “Thanks for listening. I’ve never had anyone to share this stuff with.”
George spun around, took hold of her hand and helped her along the trail. “Don’t you have friends in Bear Creek?”
“No, I never really let anyone in.” Her words were guarded but she had more to say and he didn’t want to blow it and make her clam up.
“It’s hard to know who to trust in this world.”
“But you can always trust your true mate?” Nana stated. “Honor used to tell Sage that. Is it true?” The hope in her voice hit him hard. Nana wanted to trust him, she wanted someone she could trust in and open up to.
George kept walking as he phrased his words carefully. “You are the most important person in my life. My mate. My one true mate. There is no one else for me either before or after you. I’d never hurt you, and if you tell me a secret, anything, no matter what, it stays between you and me.”
“You’re like a living, breathing secret diary.” Nana looked up at the trail. “Nearly there.”
George pulled her to the summit of the cliff face they had traversed and stopped for her to catch her breath. A breeze skimmed the plateau they stood on and whipped Nana’s dress around her legs. She pushed her hair back from her face and stared into the distance. Below them, the town of Bear Creek stood small and insignificant. To their right, the creek spilled down over the mountains making its way toward the ocean somewhere in the unseen distance.
“Come on, let’s walk to the waterfall. It’s a beautiful place.” He took her hand once more and they strolled on, taking their time as they got to know each other. Nana spoke of the children growing up, of the business, revealing nothing more than memories.
“Tell me about this exhibit of yours.” They ducked under low branches and followed the remains of a trail that took them directly to the waterfall. Few people outside of Bear Creek knew about this place, which meant in the middle of the day in late summer, you could come here and not see a single other person.
“When Thorn found the diamond, we did some research and discovered it was most likely the same diamond Calder Harrahand mounted on the pommel of his sword. It was given to him by Elia’s father as a dowry.”
“A dowry? I thought they were shifters?” Nana asked. “That they didn’t have a choice in who they loved.”
“They were, luckily for them. But Calder had made a vow to marry for wealth and position if it meant the safety of Bear Creek and the surrounding area. He was willing to do whatever it took. To sacrifice his own love and in some ways his own life for the good of his people.”
“Wow, and he and Elia were true mates.” Nana’s eyes misted with tears. “Fate knew.”
George shook his head. “Not exactly. Calder was supposed to marry Elia’s older sister. But on the journey here she met her true mate and eloped. Afraid this would mean war between the clans, Elia’s father offered Calder his younger daughter and a huge dowry, including the diamond.”
Nana laughed, it started as a giggle and then bubbled up until it erupted in a deep belly laugh. “Elia’s father must have felt cheated when he realized they were mates.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. “It seems fate does have a sense of humor after all.”
“Elia’s father was only too happy to unite the clans and unload his daughter on Calder.” George’s eyes danced as he retold the story, which after tomorrow the whole world would read about when the exhibit opened.
“Unload her?” Nana asked.
“Legend has it Elia was a handful, more suited to armed combat than needlepoint. Her father despaired of a man ever loving her.”
“And yet Calder did.”
“With all his heart.” George looked down on his mate and knew exactly how Calder must have felt when he first set eyes on Elia.
There was no denying fate.
Chapter Eleven – Nana
If Elia had once found love with her true mate, so could Nana. George’s story gave her hope that fate was indeed the greatest matchmaker ever.
The trail they were following weaved between the trees. The first rumble of water crashing into a pool reached them long before the first glimpse of the waterfall. The sound grew louder until when at last the trees ended and the cascading water came into view, her heart thumped with anticipation.
“Wow. I’ve never been up here,” Nana said. “I didn’t know what I was missing.”
“It’s one of my favorite places, even before I became obsessed about watercourses.” George gave her a sheepish grin. “I’m boring. I admit it.”
Nana tore her gaze from the water and let it settle on George. “I like boring.” A tear spilled down her cheek before she could wipe it away.
George dropped the picnic basket to the ground and went to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “What’s wrong? You can tell me anything.”
She sobbed into his shoulder, the dam which had held her emotions in check finally burst. Only when her fear and anger flooded out did she see how scared she was of seeing everything she’d worked for in ruins.
“I don’t deserve you, George.” She rested her head on his shoulder, watching the water as it flowed endlessly over the side of the cliff. That was her life, crashing over a cliff to be consumed by the dark waters below.
“Don’t say that, Nana. You don’t know what I do or don’t deserve.” George took her hand, picked up the basket and led her to the side of the pool. There he set the basket down and took out a blanket, which he spread out on the soft springy grass. “Sit down. We’ll drink a glass of wine and eat, then, when you are ready, you can tell me whatever you want me to know.”
Nana nodded and sat down, numb with fear. She wasn’t afraid that George wouldn’t understand. That was the only certainty in this whole mess. But she was afraid she wouldn’t find the courage to finally open the closet and reveal the darkness she’d shut away inside of her.
The wine was cool, the food delicious and the company charming. George talked about his life, telling her stories of his adventures, filling in the silence that would otherwise stretch between them. When at last they’d eaten, and she’d drunk two large glasses of wine, she finally felt ready.
Whether it was the welcoming, benevolent air surrounding the waterfall, despite its tumultuous journey, or the nearness of George, she couldn’t be sure, but finally Nana found the courage to talk. “Do you know why I adopted the children?”
George shook his head. “No. You were very young. In your twenties?”
She nodded. “I adopted them because Kyle and Honor were the only people who ever gave me a home. They taught me what it was to love unconditionally. Until I met them, I’d never seen love between two people. Not husband and wife, or brother and sister, or parent and child.”
“Your own home life wasn’t happy?” George asked gently.
Nana shrugged and took another sip of wine, she felt one step removed from reality. “I don’t know if I ever had a home life. I don’t think I ever had what most people called a home.” She swallowed hard. “A home is a place you go to when you need sanctuary when it seems as if all the world is against you, a home is where you go for love and understanding.”
She wiped away the tears rolling down her face. George dug in his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief with his initials on it. She smiled down at it through her tears as she rubbed her finger over the G. “One of my students gave them to me as a leaving gift.”
“I like it.” She looked up at him through her tears. Even with tears in her eyes, she could see the love and concern on his face. Wiping her tears, she continued. “My parents never wanted me. I don’t know if they ever really wanted each other. But I came along, and they decided to do the right thing. From what I can tell from my mom’s drug-fueled ramblings, they were happy for a time. An
d then I was born.”
George reached out and put an arm around her shoulders and she shuffled closer, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Nana. Over my teaching career, I saw this more than once.”
“I suppose I didn’t know any different. At least not until I was maybe seven or eight and I visited friends’ houses for dinner and saw what a normal family was. By then, my dad had already started drinking. He slowly descended into alcoholism, and the relationship between my parents became more volatile.” She frowned, not wanted to relive the nights when she hid in her room while her mom and dad fought downstairs. Words, fists and making up. The routine was always the same.
“Your dad was violent?” George asked gently. She nodded. “Toward you?” She shook her head.
“No. And honestly, my mom gave as good as she got. We were not the traditional household in any sense. Some mornings after a really bad fight, my dad would be sitting across from me at the breakfast table with a black eye and a grin on his face as he watched my mother in the kitchen.” She placed her hand over her heart as it beat out of time. “I didn’t understand it. Was that love?”
“Love comes in all guises,” George said. “But that kind of love is the most toxic of them all.”
“It was the only love I’d ever known.” Nana paused. Her story so far would evoke sympathy in any human being. But what came after… She deserved no pity for what came after.
“You can tell me anything.” George’s voice, soothing and calm, gave her the strength to continue.
“I met a man. Vito Jerrell. He was older than me. Ten years or more, I couldn’t tell. He never told, and I didn’t ask.” Nana pulled herself away from George and hugged her knees to her chest. “He was nice to me. At first.”
“A predator.”
Nana nodded. “I should have known better, I should have seen him for what he was. But I didn’t. My idea of a normal relationship was so far from reality.” She blotted her face with the handkerchief. “That’s no excuse.”
“You were young.” George leaned toward her and reached out to tilt her chin, so she had to look at him. “What would you have told Sage, or the boys if it was them? Would you expect them to carry guilt around with them all their lives? Whatever you did, you made up for it by raising three amazing young people.”
“You don’t know what I did. Or what I didn’t do.” Nana rubbed her cheek on his hand and then pulled away.
George hesitated. “Did you go to prison?”
Nana covered her face with her hands and sobbed. “No.”
“Nana. Look at me.” She lifted her head and looked at him through her tears. “You adopted three young children. The authorities must have thought you were more than capable.”
“Because they didn’t know me. Not really. Anyone can put on a pretty dress and say the right things.” She remembered the day vividly. Dressing with such care, simple, demure, an act. She’d so desperately wanted Kyle and Honor to be proud of her even though they were no longer alive to see. She desperately wanted to protect the children and give them a stable home. To say thank you to their parents for giving her a fresh start.
“Are you wanted by the police?” George asked quietly.
“No. My crime was more of the moral, or immoral, kind.” She took a deep breath. “You know, when I moved into Chance Heights, I used to joke that the house should be called Second Chance Heights.”
“Do you want to tell me?” He rubbed her back as if comforting a child, and at that moment she was a child. Confused, and unsure what the answer was to the conundrum before her. “Sometimes when a secret is out in the light, it’s not as bad as you let yourself believe.”
“But once a secret is spoken, once it’s shared, there’s no taking it back. You can’t put it back in a box.” Nana’s bottom lip trembled. “But I want you to know so that you can choose if you want to build a life with me.”
“Nana, honey, no matter what you tell me, I’ll still want to build a life with you. You are my mate. For me, there is no other.” He pulled her toward him and she gave in and let him cradle her close while she stared at the water and tried to compose her thoughts into words.
“I met Vito on the street.” Their first meeting was still as vivid as it had been all those years ago. “I was looking for my mom who had disappeared out of the house, hell-bent on blotting out her life with her next fix. I was seventeen, too old for my years and yet too young and naive to see through Vito. He groomed me. Of course, it’s not like today, we were never made aware of how predators work.”
“He offered to help you find your mom and gave you a glimpse of a better life.” George had seen it before, in the classroom.
Nana nodded. “I remember when Sage came to home from school and told me they’d been taught to be aware of how people can groom another person to get them to do what they want. How people online might not be who they say they are. A teenager in a chat room might be anyone. A middle-aged man. A drug dealer. I told her that it’s not just people behind a screen you have to watch out for. It could be anyone. A stranger, or someone you trust.”
“You tried to protect Sage, so she didn’t end up being used.”
“Is it so obvious I was used?” Nana tried to make light of it, but she couldn’t.
“Nana, you have nothing to be ashamed of, and no, it’s not obvious. No one could look at you and see anything but a woman who gave three orphans an amazing life.”
“Except me. When I look in the mirror, I see all my faults.” She smiled weakly at George. “It’s not always been that way. I haven’t spent my whole life dwelling on this.”
“So what changed?” He held his breath as he looked at her, as if waiting for the knockout blow that would send him sprawling to the ground.
“Vito.” Her throat clamped closed and she couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe as she said that name.
“You’ve seen him again.” George lifted his head and let out his breath. “Today at the museum. That’s what you saw.” He stood up abruptly and paced alongside the waterfall, his features dark as he fought for control.
“Yes, he was there. And afterward, at the diner.” She took out her phone and read the last text she received from Vito. “But he says he’s moving on. Perhaps he has changed after all.”
George swung around to stare at her, his bear close to breaking free. Nana wasn’t afraid, the anger on George’s face was not for her, it was for Vito. “He’s gone. Are you sure?”
Nana stood up and stared at the text conversation on her phone. “He wanted me to leave with him, to be his drug mule.” She shook her head and raked her hand through her hair. “Unless this is some cruel joke. He saw me with you and decided to leave.”
George sighed, and his shoulders dropped as the tension left him. “Will you promise me one thing?”
Nana nodded. “Yes.”
“If he ever contacts you again. If you ever even suspect that he’s close by, will you tell me? Day or night. Call me, tell me, and I’ll come to you.” His fists were clenched by his sides, leaving Nana in no doubt what George would do to Vito in order to protect her.
“I swear.” It was what George needed to hear. His defense of her made her feel safer, as if Vito was no longer a threat because she was no longer that young naïve woman who believed his promises. Yet George’s anger also worried her. What if in protecting Nana, George hurt Vito?
Nana closed her eyes, the image of a young woman lying dead on a dirty mattress surrounded by squalor came to her. She’d seen death. Seen how easy it was for a life to be snuffed out.
George closed the distance between them and pulled Nana into his arms. She rested against his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat, lulled by it, and by the scent of him. Wrapping her arms around him, she finally gave in to fate. During her turbulent life, she could remember only two other occasions when something had felt so right, so natural.
One was the day she arrived at Chance Heights and Kyle and Honor had offered her a job, an
d the other was when she said she would adopt the children after their parents’ death. Those decisions were as natural as breathing. And so was the decision to let George into her life.
And into her heart.
Chapter Twelve – George
His bear fought for control. Fought for the chance to find Vito and rip his throat out. Anger burned inside him as hot as any dragon fire.
If we hurt him, George began, if we kill him…
I would kill him and spit his remains into the fires of hell, his bear replied.
We would lose Nana forever. George’s words pierced the veil of anger surrounding his bear.
You have a point, his bear agreed reluctantly.
We belong by Nana’s side, for the rest of our lives, not locked away in some prison cell.
So this jerk gets to walk free and remain a threat to our mate? His bear curled his lip, showing off his long sharp teeth.
There are other ways to make sure he never comes near her again. George was willing to do whatever it took to protect his mate. But they had to be calm, calculating even. Rushing in while rage burned hot in their heart would help no one.
“Thank you.” Nana lifted her head, and George focused on her, pushing his bear to the back of his mind.
“For what?” He cradled her head in his hand as she looked up at him.
“Listening. Not judging. Not making me feel as if I’m to blame.” She looked up at him, her eyes red-rimmed with tears and he wished he could make it all better for her, that he could take away all the pain and hurt and smooth over the cracks of her life.
“There is nothing to judge.” George stroked her hair, inhaling her scent as they stood by the side of the waterfall. Nana hadn’t told him the details of why she carried so much guilt. Perhaps she would in time.
She fell silent again. “Marianne Hiscock. She was only fifteen when she fell under Vito’s spell. I should have warned her to leave, to get as far away from Vito as possible, but I didn’t. In some ways I was jealous, she was new, and Vito showered her with attention. Attention he’d once shown me.”
Silverback History Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 20) Page 8
